, 1887-10-21
ON The UPPER coNeo.
Human Sacrifice Among the Ba-yanEl.
Beheading n Victim.

human sacrifice Among the BR-yanEi.
Beheading n Victim.
1.-The revolving custom of human sacri-
flee" say Mr.. Glave, sis carried on to n
horrible extent on the Upper Congo river,
principally by the Ba-yanzi tribes. All
slaves, both men and women, are liable
TO this b~arbarity. These people are under
the impression that a man dying in thi
world is simply transferred to another
there to carry on exactly the same exist
ence, requiring the same food and attend.
ance. Upon the death of a chief his rela.
uveS or friends kill about half lis slaves,
men and women, to go with him, they
say, to attend to his wants, and to serve
for his protection; it being very mira dig.
for a chief to make his entry into the
x world without a certain following.
The women are %strangled; a ROPE is put
round the neck of the victim. q man
climbs a tree and tics the rope to a
branch, the woman being held up, SO that
when they let her go she is swung in mid
air in her dying struggles; these cause
great merriment among the spectators,
not thinking that at least a great many
of them will share the same fate sooner
or later. Ii men are beheaded.
"The victim is seated on a log of wood;
two stakes are then driven into the
ground, II on each side of him, and as
high as his shoulder; bands are then put
round his body, inclosing it in these
stakes, then two stakes are driven by his
knees and two by his ankles, one at each
side, and he is securely bound to them
with rope. A ring of cane is then put
round his neck, with several leaders Of
string, which are drawn up and tied in a
knot above his head; a pliable pole, about
eighteen feet long, is then driven into the
ground nine feet from the man s seat. 1t
is bent down just above the mans head;
a small piece of rope is fastened to the top
of the pole, and the other end of the rope
Is made fast to the Knot above the mans
head. This being now at very strong
tension the whole body is quite immova-
BILE, and the neck is stretched to its full
extent. The executioner then makes his
appearance. He makes a chalk mark on
the poor fellows neck; then with one
blow sewers the head from the trunk.
The spectators at this seem to lose all con-
troll over themselves. They tear down
the head from the pole, and there is a
CHASTITY scrimmage for it, often resulting
in a free fight"
The Ba-yanzi, however, with all these
cruel customs, are superior to some of the
other nations of the Congo. They make
pottery, neat wooden furniture and other
articles, often decorated with tasto, build
neat houses, especially at the town of
Bolobo, and are skilled in working iron
and other metals, fabricating knives and
hatchets, which they sell to the Ba-teke
and the Wa-buma. They are fond Of
music, and the tones of their five stringed
Tyre and of the marimba, a sort of dulci-
mer, with thin slips of metal arranged as
Eayd on q cNprdinn IAarl oro o,-1a+l,,
sonorous. They cultivate maize, sweet
potato ugar, tobacco, manioc, banana,
thee oil palm and ground nuts for trade,
and semi-tropical fruits, such as the orange
and pineapple, ~intro-Lced from the Portu-
guese of the west coast. They nave no
horses or oxen and -ew sheep, but keep
goats, pigs and poultry; they catch fish
in abundance, and preserve them by
smoking.
The Ba-yanzi are not of the negro race,
according to ethnologists, but belong
purely to the ''Bantu" family, which in
cludes the people around Lake Tan
ganyika and Lake Nyassa in Eastern At
RIGA and on the Zambesi. Their skins
are of a chocolate brown color; they are
well shaped and nave abundance of hair,
but usually pluck out the beard. mus
tache, whiskers, eyebrows and eyelashes.
They scar themselves on the breast, belly
and temples with incised marks denoting
the tribe; dye the hair and nails with a
red pigment and stiffen their plated
tresses or pigtails with clay and grease;
often stick parrot feathers and various
other about their persons, and
wear earrings, noserings, necklaces or
bracelets, while one or two pieces of glass
cloth suffice for the dress of the fashion
able lady Of Lukungu. New York
Graphic.